Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1887-04-27

near the veranda, too strong, he had better
shut the right hand window and open that on
the other side Of tho room; and then at
length, with piquant little nod Of her golden
head, she went of, looking, he thought as he
watched her retreating figure, about as
healthy, graceful and generally satisfactory
young woman as man could wish to see.
"Take a glass of grog, Capt. Mel" said the
old man, pushing the square bottle toward
him; you'll need it after the mauling that
brute gave you. By the way, l haven't
thanked you enough for saving my Bessiel
But I do thank you, yes, that I do. I must
tell you that Bessie is my favorite niece.
Never was there such girl-never. Moves
like springbuck, and what an eye and form!
Work, too-she'll do as much work as three.
There's no nonsense about Bessie, none at all.
She's not a fine lady, for all her fine looks.
1.-THE two sisters seem very different" said
John.
GAY, you're right there" said the old man.
"You'd never think that the same blood ran
in their veins, would youi There's three
years between them, that's one thing. Bes,
sie's the youngest, you seeEshe's lust 20 and
Z jess Is g. Lord, to think That It IS twenty.
three years since that girl was born! And
theirs was queer story, too." .
"Indeed9" said his listener, interrogatively.
"Ay," he went on absently. knocking out
his pipe and rcflling it out of big, brown
jar Of coarse cut Boer tobacco; "Ill tell it to
you if you like; you are going to live in the
house, and you may as well know it. I am
sure, Capt. Mel, that it will 60 no further.
You see was born in England; yes, and we'll
born, too. come from Canbridgeshire-
from that fat fenland down round Ely. My
father was clergyman. Well, he wasn't
rich, and when was 20 he gave me his bless
ing, thirty sovereigns in my pocket and my
passage to the Cape; and I shook his hand,
God bless him and off I came, and here in
the old colony and this country have been
for fifty years, for was 10 yesterday. Well,
I'll tell YOU more about that another time:
it's about the girls I'm speaking now. After
left home-twenty years after or hard on
tiny dear old father married again,
youngish woman with some money, but be-
meath him somewhat in life, and by her he
had one SON and then died. Well, it was but
little heard of my alf-brother, except that
he had turned out very badly, married and
taken to drink, till one night some twelve
years ago, when strange thing happened. I
was sitting here in this worry room-ay, in
this very chair-for this part Of the house was
up then, though the wings weren't built-and
smoking my pipe and listening to the lashing
of the rain, for it was very foul night, when
suddenly an old pointer dog had, named
Ben, gave bark.
"'Iie down, Ben; it's only the Kaflrs,'
said 1.
"Just then thought heard faint sort Of
rapping ut the door, and Ben barked again,
so got up and opened it, and in came two
little girls, wrapped up in old shawls or some
such gear. Well, shut the door, looking
out FIRST to see if there were any more outside,
and then stood and stared at the two little
things with my mouth open. There they
stood, hand in hand, the water dripping
from both o: them, and the eldest might
have been II, and the second about 8. They
didn't say anything, but the eldest turned
and took the shawl and hat off the younger
that was Bessie-and there was her sweet
little fuce and her golden hair, and damp
enough both Of them were, and she put her
thumb in her mouth, and stood and looked at
me till began to think that was dreaming.
"'Please, sir said the biggest, at last, Is
this Mr. Croft's house-Mr. Croft, South
African Republicr
dyes, little miss, this is his house, and this
is the South African Republic, and l am he.
And now who might you be, my dearsf l
answered.
"If you please, SIR, we are your nieces, and
we have come to you from England
"'Whatr halloaed, startled out of my
wits, as well might be.
"'Oh, sir, says the poor little thing, clasp
ing her thin, wet hands, please don't send us
away. Bessie is so wet and cold and hungry,
too, she isn't fit to 60 any farther
"And she set to work to cry, whereon the
little one cried too, from fright and cold and
sympathy.
swell, of course, took them both to the
{ fire and set them on my knees and halloaed for
Hebe the old Hottentot woman who did my
cooking, and between us we undressed them
and wrapped them up in some old clothes
and fed them with soup and wine, so that in
half an hour they were quite happy and not
bit frightened.
a'And now, young ladies' said, come
how you came here
"And this is the tale they told me-com-
pleted, of course, from what learned after
ward-and an odd one it is 1t seems that
my half brother married Norfolk lady-a
sweet young thing-and treated her like
dog He was drunken rascal, was my half
brother, and he beat his poor wife and shame
fully neglected her, and even i'll treated the
two little girls, till at last the poor woman,
weak as she was from suffering and i'll health,
could bear it 10 longer, and formed the wild
idea of escaping to this country and throw
ing herself upon my protection. 1t will show
how desperate she must have been. She
scraped together and borrowed some money,
enough to pay for three second class passages
to Natal and a few pounds over, and one day,
when her brute Of husband was away OIL
the drink and gamble, she slipped on board
sailing ship in the London docks, and before
he knew anything about it they were well out
to sea- But it was her last effort,
poor, dear soul, and the excitement of
it finished her. Before they had
been ten days at sea she sank and died, and
the two poor children were left alone And
what they must have suffered, or rather
what poor jess must have suffered, for she
was old enough to feel, God only knows. But
l can tell you this, she has never got over the
shock to this hour. 1t has left its mark on
Ter. sir. But, let people say what they will,
there is power that looks after the helpless,
and that power took those poor, homeless,
wandering children under its wing The cap
tain of the vessel befriended them and when
at last they got to Durham some of the passen-
gers made u subscription and got all old Boer,
who was coming up this way with his wife to
the Transvaal, to take them under his charge.
The Boer and his vrouw treated the children
fairly well, but they did not do one thing
more thai they bargained for At the turn
from the Wnkkerstrom road, that you came
along to-day, they put the children down, for
they had no luggage, and told them il they
went along there they would come to Mein-
heer Croft's house. That was in the middle
of the afternoon, and they were until o'clock
getting here, poor little dears, for the track
was fainter then than it is now, and they
wandered off into the yeldt and would have
pershed there in the wet and cold had they
not CHANGED to see the lights of the house.
And that was how my nieces came here,
Capt. Mel. And here they have been ever
since, except for n couple of years when
sent them to the Cape for schooling, and q
lonely man l was when they were away"
"And how about the father" asked John
Mel, deeply interested. "Did you ever hear
any more of him."
Hear of him, the villain!" almost shouted
the old man, jumping up i'll wrath. SAY,
d-n him, heard of him. What do you
think. The two chicks had been with me
some eighteen months, long enough for me to